


A World of Their Own Snapshots

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: To Make a World of Their Own [4]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: A little angst, Alien Biology, Aliens Made Them Do It, Colonization, Dysfunctional Family, Epistolary, Fluff, Medical, Non-Chronological, Other, Pregnancy, because they have consented to their friends' lives, but not really, not much, so is adi and she will have them for lunch, vokara is done with kamino
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-05-21 09:52:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 9,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14913159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: A series of snapshots set in this series' universe! Open-ended on chapter number as we find scenes that fit! Will likely NOT be in chronological order for now, but will eventually be reordered.





	1. Taking Advantage

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Jedi, Clones, and Tiny Dragons!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10312988) by [ilyena_sylph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph), [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly). 



> This takes place a couple of years after the original premise. Ahsoka is grown and Rex has learned how to be a free man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set probably about 4 years after the original crash landing on Pern.

Settling into their new world had been hard work, and more units, more unwanted people from the Republic and Separatists alike kept following the quiet trail they had left. 

Ahsoka was getting good at the Basic Introduction to Devouring Rain, Dragons, and life on their world for the new arrivals. Rex often helped with those; they had kept their command team rapport through it all.

Yet, when all she did was laugh, as her brown, her bronze, and his blue took flight to chase Fives' green, Rex decided that she was, without doubt, the meanest person on the planet.

"As many of ours have flown, all the wild ones, in the last months, and he's ignored them, why pick Fives' green to chase?!" Rex asked, provoking more laughter.

"Oh Rexter, it's not like you don't have a deep bond with him and Echo!" she said. 

"Not that way! Other than, well, the first time we were here!"

Ahsoka dissolved into more laughter, before reaching for his hand. "Come on, old man. You know Echo's bronze will win, but we might as well go enjoy the feeling, right?"

Rex kept grumbling, but he let the woman lead him to their home.


	2. Repairing Some of the Damage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of Palpatine getting toasted by the dragons, trouble remains. Fortunately, some Jedi do give a damn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set just after the Chancellor's fall, and well before leaving for Pern.

Unit after unit, once the truth of the Chancellor had been uncovered, reported to High Command that they had seen an increase in headaches, dissociation, and men in general having Bad Days. It was a clear enough pattern to alarm all of the Jedi, made worse by the unit medics being incapable of finding out what was wrong.

Vokara Che herself went into the Home Guard barracks, after finding out that yes, it had affected them, and tried to speak to the medic.

Tried, it turned out, was the operative word, as she found herself the direct target of naked hostility and aggression, followed by absolute confusion in those who had only just been malevolently disposed toward her.

She was too wise, too canny, to not understand that there was far more at work than a simple ailment at work, and she smiled politely at the Guards she had been met by, before saying she would return at a later date.

Her steps took her directly to the High Council chamber, where she found Yoda and Adi in conversation about the coming election and promised reform. They paused, and looked at her expectantly.

"News, have you, Master Che?"

"Yes. All of the Jedi in the field need to avoid their men, if the men are showing the recent symptoms, before someone winds up dead," she said bluntly, provoking a gasp from Adi despite the younger woman's normal calm composure.

"Hmm?" Yoda's ears flicked forward in perfect attention.

"I believe, based on my sojourn into the Home Guard barracks, that they are suffering from an inflicted personality disorder, one that is either rooted in their training or some technological concern that we are, as yet, unaware of. I suspect that the Sith, or the Kaminoans themselves, have other plans in place that will cut across the men's willpower and use them against the Order, perhaps the Republic itself," Vokara explained.

"How do we combat this?" Adi asked as she regained her sense of control.

"I need access to the clones, for a full medical workup, I need one of the Iktotchi or Kel Dor Jedi, and I need for our idiots in the field to actually do as I just said, and steer clear of their affected men!

"The traumatic syndrome they all have would only be worsened, if they harm a Jedi against their own will. And the cost to the Jedi that defended themself would be equally as severe," she stressed to the pair.

"I have members of my unit here," Adi told her. "I can get them to sleep, or sedate them, and bring them to you, since this is in their best interest, and consent is unlikely to be possible if you are correct. If not, I will make my apologies to them."

"Thank you," Vokara said.

"Inform the Order shall I," Yoda said. "Knight Sha Koon, in the archive, she is. Her skills, useful now, they are."

"May the Force protect them, and us, all," Vokara said, sweeping back to ready the healing hall for her new mission.

+++

Vokara was the one to apologize to the squadron Adi had brought in, not because their general wouldn't but because Adi had taken her discovery to a closed session of the Senate to rip the Kaminoans out of their seat in that august body.

Abhorrent as a slave army was, the Senate had allowed the seat in gratitude. Adi intended to see them removed once the data from the gene scans and the brain imagery was shown.

"Firstly," Vokara began, her voice quiet as she sat on a stool in the midst of the eight beds. "I apologize for taking your freedom of choice away. Master Gallia acted on my behalf. Secondly, if you will reach up, you will note you all have a bacta patch in the same spot on your now shave heads.

"That was the primary reason we kidnapped and sedated all of you." Vokara waited while the men inspected the bandages by touch, and by looking at each other.

"What was it?" the Commander, Points, asked. 

"A trap. Master Gallia said you, Wreck, were having the intense paranoia and headaches that have plagued many of your brothers." Vokara pulled a tray with eight glass vials into the center with her via the Force, and held one up to show the chip inside. "The Sith crafted the demise of the Order, maybe the Republic, in these, for they were taking over from your higher brain functions.

"If it holds true with the others having the headaches, I believe that the chips were misfiring in those of you who had seen head injuries or electrical damage," Vokara told them, even as they were looking pale and then angry, with Wiz almost leaning off his bed to try and see the chip better. She focused on him. "I'm told you have extraordinary slicing skills. Will you help us find a key to shorting the chips out en masse?"

"Kriff yeah," Wiz snapped out… then turned a dusky red as his awareness of who he'd said that to kicked in. 

Vokara merely smiled. "I understand that sentiment. All of you will have to remain with us in the Temple until we figure it out, I am afraid, because the chips are at a volatile point, and we are trying hard to keep from tipping this over into violence. While you are, I am asking now if all of you will submit to a more in depth physical, so we can be certain my preliminary scans found everything?"

"What kind of things were found other than that?" Coil asked, as he was the corpsman for his group, even if he had not taken full medic training.

"Advanced healing, superior immune system… and shortened telomere lifespans," Vokara said, waiting a moment before continuing. "That last is of concern and likely to be what banishes the Kaminoans from the Senate, even before we have the full depth of what the chips could do. As it means all of you are living shortened lives.

"I intend to fix that, with your cooperation, so nothing more is stolen from any of you," Vokara promised them.

"Not like they can sell more units, if we actually lasted," Roll answered that. 

"We'll cooperate in every way, Master Che," Points said formally. "Because we want our brothers to have a chance at knowing peace for a while, once we find that other Sith and pound the Seppies into dust!"

A rousing cheer came up from the others, and Vokara grimly hoped the men had just that chance. She was just cynical enough to think it might be a vain hope, though, given politicians.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Points and company are all OCs that were first introduced in [Changing Fate](https://archiveofourown.org/series/435916).


	3. Glimpse of Salvation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second clutch is hatching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set not very long after the 501st was brought back from the first crash landing.

Obi-Wan, despite having seen how Anakin's dragon had helped him stabilize, had been skeptical, less than a week after the missing 501st's return, that he should even try to make a new friend.

Cody had insisted.

"I won't, if you don't," was actually said, and so it was that Obi-Wan was sitting in the small ward room they had converted to a warming chamber for the eggs, watching as the eggs rocked. They had all been warned by the sudden arrival of all of the 501st's dragons, with Reina peremptorily insisting it was time at the command crew.

Those dragons were singing their little throats out, eyes whirling in greens and blues, making it hard for Obi-Wan to look anywhere but the already hatched dragons. He missed the advent of the first of the new ones, so enraptured by the motion of the eyes on Chase, who was nearest him.

Then Catch, on his other side, cheeped imperiously at him, and in the process of looking toward that one, he noticed the three wobbling little ones in the midst of their shards, and a soft breath of worry escaped him, until each was safely in the hands of one of his men, being fed tiny pieces of meat and fruit that had been deemed edible.

He kept watching, feeling the hatchlings' hunger and his men's need to take care of them. He was hoping all the eggs hatched to the men, truly believing they needed the support far more than he did.

Then a green, stumbling as she hatched upside down from her egg, tumbled into one of the other eggs, sending it rolling right into Obi-Wan's knee where he was sitting cross-legged. While Cody reached to right the little green all tangled up in her wings and tail, the rolled egg cracked right in half. Obi-Wan, who had been reaching to try and stop the egg, found his hands closing around the softest little thing ever… and being assaulted more viscerally by the hunger.

"Shh, no, shh, little one," he soothed automatically, shifting the … bronze? … dragon to one hand so he could reach with his other for food. "You're alright. Just a little sudden on that entrance," he murmured, getting pieces of meat down the little one's throat. 

The trill mixed with the growl, one of pleasure and one of hunger, made him smile, before he settled back to feed the little darling. The press of emotion and primitive thought against his mind was startlingly soothing for him, and Obi-Wan began to understand, just a little, how the dragons might save all of them.

After all, they could never be alone, not with such a close bond as this.


	4. Twi'leki Exodus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Numa was always going to go to the new world. But she didn't expect company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set within the first year on the planet, after the migration out of the Republic began.
> 
>  _Ra'ta_ and _Ma'ta_ are words I made it up for honoraries... think Mister and Madame.

Numa's eyes rounded out as big as they could get, and her lekku flicked in worry. Her older friend shook her head, though, quickly settling her own cap in place. Behind them, an elegant woman and bright-colored droid came up to the loading dock.

That was too much for the child of the group. " _Ma'ta_ Syndulla," she said, using all of her manners to address the woman formally, "why are you and Hera here? My uncle cannot afford to feed me, but surely — "

"Shh, Numa, dear one," the woman told her, crouching. "Some day, you may understand. There is a place here for _Ra'ta_ Syndulla, but ours is in the same place yours is," she said. "So, you will know more than just your _nerra_ Boil and _nerra_ Waxer."

Numa wasn't certain about this, but Hera didn't look terribly upset. Maybe it would be alright.

+++

The soldier at the ship hatch did look at the droid with concern. "We have limited technology, Lady Syndulla," the man said, unable to lose his crisp military manners even if he was out of armor and pretending he was a normal flight crewer. "Even the droids that went with the ones preparing the way know they might suffer if any severe breakdown happens."

Chopper, true to nature, made a rude noise at that, causing Hera to shush him.

"He's my daughter's best friend," the elder Twi'lek woman told him. "We brought salvage to keep him in good repair through at least her lifetime," she added, pointing to the pannier that Chopper had consented to wear, given all three of the Twi'leki were carrying their own belongings on their backs.

The soldier softened. "Well, can't go separating friends," he said. "Welcome aboard the _Last Chance_."

"Thank you, kind sir." Mama Syndulla swept her small party on in, taking them to the assigned berth. It would be tight with Chopper to provide for, but they could do it.

+++

As the _Last Chance_ lifted off, Cham Syndulla paused in his tasks to watch it, to watch the last of his family, leave Ryloth.

He knew there were trials ahead for his planet, but he could rest better, knowing they were far from it, and able to make lives that were not marked by the strife he embraced.

+++

The long voyage to Wild Space, to their new home, gave Mama Syndulla, as everyone who knew her, time to teach the various children aboard from the warning materials that had been circulated. She was intent on making certain the children were well prepared… and it did no harm that many of the women and youths that had come followed younger family to listen.

" _Ma'ta_ ," one former soldier in the resistance against the Separatists began, after class. "You teach so well, we all can learn it. Me, and some my age, the ones that fought for Ryloth? We ask, _Ma'ta_ , if there is more you can teach?" he asked in a very nervous voice, a mixed group of teens hovering just out of the bay's door.

Mama Syndulla, recognizing swiftly just what he meant, because they had been suffering from piracy and smuggling and Separatists longer than the war had been going on. These young people had missed significant pieces of their education.

"Yes. Pass the word, and set this hour, each day, for school," she said firmly, making the youth light up in joy.

+++

Planetfall was controlled chaos, but Numa accepted being raised up by Mama Syndulla, allowed to look around through the sea of helpful men come to unload the ship and guide the refugees to temporary quarters. It had been explained that they, like the other ships that had come, would need to look at all the settlements so far and find one to move to, unless they had a direct sponsor in the units that had settled here, at the clearing point.

Waxer shielded his eyes against the sun and tried to see through the crowd of Twi'leki -- how were they supposed to find one little girl in all the -- 

Oh, well, that worked. There she was, held up in the air, or maybe on somebody's shoulders? Didn't matter, he could see her, so he started through the crowd, working his way close enough to be heard when he called, "Numa! Numa!" 

Numa's head whipped around toward one of the two men she had been searching for. She lit up, her face a bright smile and her lekku all but wriggling happily. " _Nerra_!" While she had been working on Basic the whole trip here, she would never not think of the pair of men as 'brother'.

Mama Syndulla kept hold of the excited little girl, while Hera leaned on Chopper a little, eyes taking in the man that looked like Ryloth's liberators, but without all the armor.

Waxer grinned, seeing her so happy to see him, and worked his way on through the crowd. "Hi there!" he told her, then looked at the woman holding her up, dipping his head slightly. "Ma'am. I'm Waxer, pleasure to meet you. Numa, you want to come here?" 

He offered her his arms, wanting to hold the girl if she'd let him. He knew Numa was an orphan, though, so who was this? 

Numa nodded and easily moved from the woman to the man, then hugged his neck tightly. "Hello," she said clearly in Basic.

Mama Syndulla smiled brightly for the man's surprise at her learning his language, before introducing herself. "I am R'ea Syndulla, and this is my daughter, Hera, as well as our friend, Chopper." 

"Syndulla?" Waxer repeated, shocked -- he hadn't been anywhere near the meetings after the liberation, but he knew the name Cham Syndulla well. He'd been key in helping with the plots to get as many of the indentured twi'leki away as they could. R'ea and Hera, and Chopper, the droid. 

He peered at the droid for a second, thinking it looked familiar, but then shook his head. Didn't matter now, wherever the droid had come from. "Welcome, all of you. Do you want to get out of this mess? Boil and I didn't set up for six, but it's okay, we'll make it work." 

Then he added, in careful Twi'leki, "We missed you, Numa." 

"You speak well!" Numa said happily to that, in her own language. She clung to the man fiercely, happy to have her family back, having chosen them during that long ago battle.

R'ea shook her head. "Now that I know Numa is safely with one of her beloved _nerra_ , we will process like all the others," she said firmly. "This is a new start for us, and we mean to make it a good one."

Hera nodded sharply at that, her nearly adolescent features set stubbornly.

"Yes, ma'am, if you're sure," Waxer replied, returning to Basic because it was easier and wondering at that decision -- but he wasn't going to push for them to come on along. It would be a tight fit, and he and Boil did like their space. "What do we need to pick up for you, Numa?" 

"Have my bag," she said, shrugging the straps of the bag with all her personal belongings. "Said we get box? Starting things." She pointed to the place where the new colonists were being given a box that held useful tools for settling into the new world.

"Numa, I am certain your chosen family will have what is in the box," R'ea said. "You go and we will see you later."

Waxer nodded, "Yeah, we've got the supplies they're handing out already. Thank you for helping Numa, ma'am. I expect we'll see you around." 

R'ea nodded, then guided her daughter and the droid over to the processing stations.

"Home," Numa said firmly, pressing her cheek to Waxer's, ready to start her new life too.


	5. Confirmation Communication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan checks in on Anakin, long-distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place just after the Jedi begin learning what their men were planning.

The note was super short, but written in Obi-Wan's precise lettering.

'Are you coping with this?'

Sirjin, the bronze that Obi-Wan had Impressed, waited with his little air mask for a reply.

"Hey Sirjin," Anakin said, offering a quick scratch as he re-read the note, shaking his head, wryly affectionate. That was _so_ Obi-Wan, in all the good ways. He flipped the film over and used the Force to pull a marker to his hand. 

'Mostly? I mean. It's perfect... I just -- at least they were just worried for me, not _about_ me,' he answered, rolled it, and tucked it back in the tube. "Here you go. Thanks." 

Sirjin gave a tiny salute with his other paw, then took a firmer grip and launched, vanishing a few centimeters above the desk to go back to Obi-Wan. 

He was gone for most of an hour, finding Anakin later in one of the corridors.

"Cheep?" Sirjin said, offering the tube again.

Anakin grinned and took the tube, rummaging in his pocket for a package of jerky so he could offer the bronze a piece. "Thanks again. Snack? And Reina won't mind if you take my right shoulder." 

Once Sirjin took the snack and a spot on his shoulder, Anakin tugged out the new note. 

'Cody was going to remain. Foolish man. I will do all I can from my side; shore leave for the Navy before we go to Kamino?' was written on the slip. Sirjin happily munched on the jerky, not really paying attention to Reina, who had sleepily looked at him and then settled back to her nap on the left.

Cody had been _what_?! 

Well, that spoke to how much he loved Obi-Wan, but it -- that would've hurt all of the 212th, and the 501st wouldn't have been far behind. Especially Rex... good thing his Master had decided he was going, too. Very good thing. 

Anakin would have missed him horrifically, but... that wasn't going to happen. Obi-Wan was going, so it would be all right. He dug a marker out of his pockets, and held the film against his gauntlet with the Force to write back. 'That sounds like a good plan. Easier than running an evac drill, for sure. And Cody... well, no doubt how he feels about you, then. Shake you up?' 

He rolled it up and handed it off to the little bronze, scratching him gently again. "Should I send Reina with the next one, Sirjin? This's quite a hop for you, over and over again." 

::Practice!:: Sirjin said. He then pressed his head against Anakin's fingers a moment before flipping away.

It was well past dinner when the bronze returned, though, and he stole something off of Anakin's plate as soon as the tube was taken.

'A little. More worried over his sanity. I am relieved… and have been threatened once via a letter from Kwilaan's delivery.'

Anakin snorted at the theft, pulled the marker back out, and wrote, 'Padmé did _what_?!' then tapped the marker against the table for a moment, thinking over what to say. Obi-Wan shouldn't say things like that -- Cody was probably saner than they were, really. 

'And you're ridiculous, Master. He loves you, of course he wouldn't leave you.' 

It still felt so strange to be able to write something like that, to be able to say it plainly, but Force, they were all leaving, might as well get used to it. He'd been writing small, so he had enough room to add 'See you soon.' 

He rolled it back up and tucked it into the tube, just in time to see Sirjin sneaking another bit of cut fruit. "What, doesn't Obi-Wan feed you?" 

::Growing!:: got a cheep of reproval from Reina. The second clutch that the 212th had Impressed were already beginning mating cycles, among the greens, who were faster to mature. 

Sirjin then straightened and held his paws open for the tube.

"I was just teasing, you two," Anakin said with a chuckle, as he gave Sirjin the tube. "And you know it." 

They both cheeped at him, then Sirjin was off again, leaving Anakin and Reina to their night.


	6. Looking After Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pep watches the Commander and General with admiration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during the journey to their new homeworld.

Pep watched, silently, as the Commander and the General walked the corridor. He was in the vent at the far end of it, and could see the pair getting bigger all the time. He liked the way they walked together, like some of the eight-year olds, the ones that had matched up to stay together. They had a way of moving, when others came into the corridor, as one to let the newcomer pass. And they brushed hands against one another, which was another way to see it.

He thought it was very good, for a Jedi and Commander.

+++

Pep popped up at the mess table where the Commander was eating, and pointed at the empty tray, miming carrying it away.

"You don't have to, _vod'ika_ ," the Commander said. Pep let his face show the wish to do so, and the Commander relented. "If you wish."

Pep grabbed the tray and rushed off, glad to be useful to the hero of so many battles. He passed by the General, just coming into the mess, and tried not to be obvious about looking after him, just to see that quiet way the pair greeted each other in public.

+++

Pep thought the General was the most perfect person ever, after watching him take a spill in personal combat training, and make the _vod_ feel better by smiling and laughing it off.

How could a Jedi be more perfect, after all, than by putting the hearts of their men first?

After, when he was practicing with his own agemates, Pep tried what he thought the General had been aiming for, and also took a spill. It didn't hurt his body or ego, though, as he thought on how to make it work. Maybe then he'd show the General.

+++

Pep looked over his shoulder as he tried to get away from the door, and saw he hadn't been fast enough. The Commander was crouching in the doorway, picking up the art Pep had left. Maybe if he hurried a little more — 

" _Vod'ika_ ," the Commander called, and Pep froze. "Did you make this?"

Pep turned fully around, but did not approach, very slowly nodding his head.

The Commander smiled at him, making the eye scar crinkle up.

"It is a treasure, and I know the General will love it," the Commander told him.

Pep raced off, happier now.

+++

He didn't know why the Commander was smiling at him, or why the General was stroking his beard, but when the Commander beckoned him over, Pep went.

It was the General who knelt down to his level. "Cody says your name is Pep. We've seen you watching us, and being very helpful and kind to us on this journey. Now, Pep, we wish to know one thing from you." His face was so serious, and Pep tried to match it. "Will you join us in our family?"

Without hesitation, Pep nodded.

He had family now, and they were the best!


	7. Best, Hard Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mace knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set the same day Kamino is liberated.

Mace Windu's comm pinged him, but he already knew. There would be a deluge of resignations for him to acknowledge, names to purge from the rolls of the Jedi.

He smiled, closing his eyes as he sat in meditation. The harsh cost of this plan would ripple out in years to come, but it was the best path in the shifting mess of shatterpoints he was navigating.

If the men stayed, the Republic would continue down the road of fascism, as the seeds had already been there. Palpatine had only manipulated events based on the mood of those in power. If the Jedi that had been so severely traumatized and held together only by their mens' loyalty and love had stayed, there would have been violence, eventually, as those Jedi led a revolt against the Senate.

There might yet be violence, but it would not be on the path of Jedi against Jedi, as Mace had once foreseen.

The men would have their well-earned freedom, and the Force would have a colony of people to hold safe from the coming storms. Some day —

— some day, that might very well save them all.

Now, Mace had to protect those left behind.


	8. Expectant Newsbringer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kit makes it to Aayla and Bly to share the news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set before the exodus to the new world but after the decision is made.

The inbound ship was small, a two-man scout-class. The transponder had a Jedi clearance, and the pilot, one Master Jepet, had clearance above many solitary Jedi travelers.

They were not, however, expecting anyone, and it set the men at ill-ease, worried over their plans. Aayla, feeling their worry, reached out in the Force… and felt very clearly that her other bondmate was present on that ship. Then the name clicked; she'd heard it frequently from her own grandmaster, and realized that it was Kit's Master.

"Calm, all of you. General Fisto is also aboard," she told them. "Forward bay, please, and I will meet them there."

She did not let her own worry show; why was Kit arriving in the company of his master? Surely Plo Koon had reached out to him. Unless… something was wrong?

Kit felt Aayla reaching and pushed reassurance to her as best he could -- telepathy, at distance, was not one of his better gifts, but he could reassure her. He was eager to see her, if a little uncertain how well his news was going to go over with his _riduur'e_. 

"I will leave the ship so you may speak with your spouses in privacy," Areen told him, squeezing his shoulder lightly. Kit smiled at her, pushing into that grip for a moment.

"Likely, it is only Aayla at first, but she will call Bly to us," Kit agreed, relaxing back into the co-pilot seat. He wanted a soak, but that could come after he got the stink of anticipation over and done with.

Areen patted him again and finished the process of entering the hangar, then quickly stepped to the small hatch to slip out. She had memories of Aaylas'ecura within the Temple as a girl, but had never interacted with her long term. "Master Secura," she said warmly. "My apologies for arriving without prior warning, but I do not intend to have Kit leave without me, so here we are.

"He would like you to join him aboard." 

Aayla's eyes widened slightly, and the tips of her lekku flicked; a Master of this rank and seniority was going to leave with them? She had to remember her manners, and bowed her head slightly.

"Thank you, Master Jepet." She glanced around for a man, and had one of the flight crew pop up almost at her elbow. "Please see Master Jepet to the stateroom for visiting dignitaries, Bravo," she told the man, who saluted and moved to escort the striking woman with long braids coming off a top-knot.

"Si -- ma'am," he said, catching himself.

"Thank you, Bravo," Areen replied, willingly following the young man off towards the mentioned stateroom. 

Kit, for his part, had gotten out of the co-pilot's seat and gone back to the tiny kitchen and dining area, his tentacles flexing a little as he waited. Not that it was a long wait, at all. He smelled her before he saw her, and smiled at the scent. "Aayla,'" he murmured, as soon as he could see her. 

Aayla saw that he looked well, he didn't seem very stressed, though there was some. She moved close to him, taking his hands, then leaned her head carefully forward so he could rest his against hers. "Kit, my love."

"Hello, beloved," Kit answered, leaning against her forehead with his own, squeezing her hands before he ran his up her arms to hold on to her shoulders. "Oh, I have missed you," he said, leaning in more. "Are you well?" 

"I am, though a bit nervous over the changes." She closed her eyes, letting the presence of him sink into her skin, before she pulled back enough to look at him. "Master Plo did speak with you, I take it? And your Master is coming? I am surprised." She shifted to be in his arms completely, body to body contact soothing the long separations they had been having.

Kit wrapped around her just as closely, hand curved around her side, and he just breathed her scent for a few moments. "He did, yes. You're not the only one nervous. And I was also surprised, when she decided that she was not remaining in the Republic. I am quite pleased, though.

"I also... have news?" He knew his tone shifted to tentative as he said the last bit, but, well, he had gone and gotten pregnant in a celebration. 

Aayla slid her hands up around his face, meeting his eyes. "Hmm? What is it, Kit? Do we need Bly for this?" She smoothed her thumb over his cheekbone, not liking that he seemed less sure of himself. She could not help the slight waver of emotion on their spouse's name; things were still healing from the rift Bly'd accidentally inflicted on her heart.

Kit frowned at the momentary quaver of her voice, the moment's shift in her scent towards pain, but it could not be too terrible, if she was instantly thinking of the husband they shared. "Yes," he replied, tipping his head into the stroke of her hand. "Best to tell both of you at once. But what's wrong?" 

Aayla frowned, then burrowed into his hold on her. "He had chosen to go. For the young ones, because he thought that would be what we expected of him, but -- I did not handle the idea very well. And it still stings, some."

Kit flinched, badly, and held Aayla more tightly, his lips pressing to her temple. "He... was going to leave us?" he repeated, before that 'he thought that would be what we expected of him' drew his attention. The 327th had _so_ many young ones, that would need guidance, he could almost understand... but it had to have devastated Aayla, after everything with her blasted Master. 

"Oh, Aayla. No, of course you did not, and so it would. If all it does is 'sting', now, I am amazed at your capacity to absorb that blow." This news made him more concerned about his own, about adding another stress to what was still a fragile situation... but he could not keep it from them, either. 

That Bly would have gone, though, without knowing -- he cut that thought off. Bly had been thinking of all the young ones, and more than deserved the freedom of the new planet. Master Plo had been clear about what he had gotten from Wolffe, that the _vod'e_ had believed their Generals and Commanders too bound to the Republic to flee with them. 

"So it is more than stings, and things have been awkward," Aayla said in answer to that part. "Let me call him to us; he's been torn between letting me have space and trying to make up for it," she admitted. She shifted to get her comm up. "Commander," she said once she had his channel, "please join myself and Master Fisto in the forward bay, the scout ship there."

"On my way," came almost instantly.

Kit kissed her lightly, holding her close, hand stroking down the middle of her back. "...I can't say my response would be much different, had I hurt you so badly," he admitted quietly. He would ask Bly, later, what _his_ reaction to Wolffe's news had been, and how things had gone when he told Aayla, but he was not about to ask her to tell him anything else. 

She pressed a gentle kiss to his shoulder, and remained there until they heard Bly come aboard. Then, she did step away, just enough to make room for their third, and made herself smile for him. It really wasn't his fault that his sense of duty had made him make the wrong, in her eyes, choice.

"Bly, Kit has something to share with us, apparently," she said, even as the mostly armored, but unhelmeted, man came close to catch Kit's hand in his own.

Kit took Bly's hand, squeezing it in greeting and pleasure to see him. "Hello, beloved. You both know I've been on my homeworld for a while, dealing with the latest troubles. Well, in the celebrations after, I ran into an old friend who was willing to help me with what my sense of the Force said was right. 

"It was a... really rather rash decision, but I am pleased that I made it. Especially when just after, Master Plo told me that we are leaving for somewhere so very far away."

Bly inhaled deeply, to know Kit had chosen this, to go with them, and apparently it had never even been a debate for him.

"What decision, beloved?" Aayla asked, curious, as Kit wasn't given to sudden decisions often. When he did make up his mind, though, it could be… interesting. As they had personally learned, with Kit giving himself so fully to them despite experience gaps between them all.

"I'm carrying a spawn for us," Kit answered, as he could either dither about it or be blunt, and blunt had won. He breathed in both of their scents as he spoke, though he was mostly watching Bly, while listening to Aayla with his Force senses. 

Bly froze. Absolutely froze in place, his breath catching. He… might have missed out on a child? Of their very own? Panic and shame warred, even as the joy he knew he should, and would, feel tried to buffer that visceral reaction.

Aayla lit in joy at the news, then swiftly reached with hand and force to catch their third, realizing that the news had sent him back into that swirl of pain and shame that had hit when they first spoke of the decision being made. "Oh, Bly!"

Kit was grateful he already knew what had happened, or Bly's panic/shame scent and the rigid, frozen body-language would have made for an event too much like what had already happened between Bly and Aayla, and that they _truly_ did not need. Aayla's joy helped to clear that painfully unpleasant scent away, and he slid his hand from Bly's grip up to his face, cupping his cheek. That painfully strong flare of distress, with odd notes of joy under it, told him clearly that Bly was as committed to this, to them, as ever, and that eased the hurt he'd taken from Aayla's news. 

"Shh... shh, _riduur_ ," he murmured, trying to draw his attention. 

Kit felt Bly shaking, just tiny tremors, before Bly was able to actually shift his gaze from a horrible future to the here and now, to meet Kit's eyes. 

"I think I like your idea of a rash decision," he finally said, falling back on wry humor as his emotions were just too potent, too overwhelming for anything else.

Aayla could not help the smile, but she moved to slide up under Bly's far arm, letting him feel that she was right there. "It is delightful to know that our new beginning will be so graced."

"I am very glad you like it," Kit replied, shaking his head a little at that so-common _vod'e_ defense. It seemed to always be the case that they joked when things were too much... but then, Jedi did much the same. "Both of you." 

He shifted his hand from Bly's face to his shoulder, now that their spouse was back with them, and held on closely, moving to lean his forehead to Bly's. 

Bly pressed into that for just a moment, and breathed slowly, letting his responses come down to something manageable.

"Is it safe?" he suddenly demanded, going ashen as he thought of an alien world and their spouse, their child facing that. "I mean, we know humans and Togruta can live there, but, is it going to provide what is needed?"

Would Kit go, and then have to return to the Republic anyway, forever apart from them?

Aayla kept quiet, to let Kit answer that. She knew Nautolans adapted fairly well to various wet and dry conditions, but it was true that Kit kept certain mineral salts available to soak in as needed, to approximate the oceans of his homeworld.

Kit chuckled softly, fingers squeezing Bly's shoulder again. He hated to see him so distressed, but at least the answer was a simple one. "We should be just fine, dear one. The salts I need are easy enough for most ship processors to synthesize, and the reports on the oceans sound truly wonderful. Far simpler for me than for Master Plo, and he's coming along. I'll need to find an appropriate cove or bay to mostly-enclose, as I'm the only one that can be underwater all the time comfortably and our spawn are energetic little creatures, but we'll have time for that.

"New oceans," he said happily, "with no industrial contaminations, and abundant life to investigate!" 

Bly filed that away, and nodded, mostly reassured. "Right, an enclosed space of water," he said. "More skin suits, rebreathers, machines to refill tanks of air," he added, listing things they should have on hand.

"I am certain we can gather those items on the supply run we are making," Aayla told him, before looking at Kit. "This is why your Master chose our way? Why she would not let you leave without her? Because she knows?"

"Indeed," Kit agreed, "well, this and that Master Plo is also coming. She's not about to have her padawan _and_ her son-in-law _and_ her granddaughters go off without her, with a new grandchild coming." He smiled affectionately, thinking about his Master and her emphatic opinions on that score. 

There was also the minor fact that she was absolutely in a state of righteous wrath at the Senate, but that didn't need to be said at the moment. Now was a time for family and connections with each other, not the mess that had made this escape necessary. 

"Son-in-law?" Bly asked, even as Aayla was parsing that over in her head. "Granddaughters?"

"Master Giiett!" Aayla said, as it all clicked. "I often thought that was just teasing among masters, given how those two bickered, but no, they really were! I can see it, now," she said, flushing a little that it had taken falling in love for her to really know. She then looked at Bly. "Master Plo's friend, except apparently more than, was master to Bultar Swan first, and Kit's elder brother-in-training."

"Ahh… and neither General Swan nor General Lissarkh are likely to remain behind," Bly said, already knowing how those two connected to General _Buir_. "I don't think Wolffe knows this about his general."

Kit considered that for a moment. "He... might not," he agreed. "Being unable to save Micah, and then losing Qui-Gon the next year, wounded my Finder very badly. The three of them were all that remained of his youngling clan, and Micah was his mate, besides that. He retreated fairly deeply into himself and his duties to Bultar, Lissarkh, and little Ahsoka. 

"The man I knew in my childhood didn't really show himself again until... after he and Wolffe became so close," Kit said, realizing just how true it was. His Finder had finally healed, with Wolffe and the Wolfpack. "But it is difficult for him, caught between the Kel Dor need for clan and the traditional teachings of the Order. I can believe he wouldn't speak of it."

Bly considered that, then shook his head. "No one lived, unless their name lives on," he said, to illustrate how at odds with his culture the Order's traditional ways seemed.

"So you are all teaching us, our heart," Aayla said, resting her head on his chestplate. "And we will remember them all, on our new world."

Kit nodded his agreement. "So we will, loves, and teach our children better than we Jedi were taught." 

They were all in agreement on that, as they looked to a better future.


	9. Wolves and Dragons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plo wishes for the Pack to have dragon companions. Cardio is concerned on Wolffe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during the first few months on the new world.

Communities that moved inland learned swiftly that the dragons were not so easily found much past the coastal zones. T'ra Saa theorized that their caloric demands needed the abundance of protein found in the sea to truly survive, but believed they would willingly go with partners who could provide meals to them.

Plo Koon was intent that his sons have the chance for that perfect companionship, and shortly after making certain Pel would be safely cared for by the men, arranged to go beach hunting. It was the right season in the North, apparently, as reports of clutches had been noted.

He did not go alone, though he did not take the Pack itself. No, for this trip, he had Jag and two members hand-picked by his Captain, as well as the use of one of the shuttles. That he stored heating elements aboard before leaving was a precaution, in case of success, as was the order to a junior squad to prep an area much like the 212th had used for an artificial hatching space.

It took several days, searching along a coastline that had not fallen into any claimed community, but eventually Plo met a queen and negotiated the release of her eggs to his own care. The queen was curious and had her fair oversee the packing up of the eggs, their placement in the falsely warm sands on the ship, and then vanished, pleased that this nest would find good matches outside their own kind.

Plo was left with the distinct impression that the queen knew of the others that had partnered to humans, and a Togruta which said much of their information exchanging ability.

+++

The artificial hatching grounds that had been created in his absence pleased Plo, and the queen who suddenly popped in to check, mightily. It pleased her so much, along with the offerings of food that so many of the men brought, that she brought her fair to explore the surrounding area, lending aid when the Devouring Rain came next.

Plo's head medic, Cardio, brought a list of individuals that would most benefit from the companionship, based on Kix's notes, and those that it was contraindicated for.

Wolffe was on the latter.

That led to Cardio being called into the Dorin room, while Pel was napping and Plo had chased off all of his sons for some meditative time.

"I am curious why you believe Wolffe would not benefit from the company of a dragon," he said, once Cardio was settled on the couch opposite Plo's large 'pappa chair', as everyone called it.

Cardio nodded. "I suspected as much, _buir_ , and I will explain as best I can. Wolffe has been traumatized repeatedly in his life, first by the loss of half of his batch, then by the constant threat against Sinker's life, and later, the near total loss of the first 104th unit.

"He pours all that he is into guiding, protecting, and reassuring all of us, as well as making sure your welfare and the biter's are met completely." Cardio met Plo's eyes, fascinated like most of his brotheres by the galaxy-field they were. "Adding a responsibility that would be totally dependent on him at first, and then independent enough to worry him by vanishing from time to time would potentially be a weight too far for him."

Plo steepled his talons, tapping the two center ones with their ceremonial claw sheathes together as he considered that. Cardio let him think, practicing his own mental exercises for calming the mind and soothing the body, a trait many of their combined units were picking up from their _jetii_.

"I have listened to your thoughts, and I can understand them all. However, I have one piece of evidence that leads me to believe that it would be better for him to participate in the hatching, Cardio, that you may not fully understand.

"It is the fact that I have watched Wolffe manage his trauma and insecurities better as he and I have evolved our deep mind link, giving him a place to fall back to when he is feeling overwhelmed. Knowing that he has responded so positively to a telepathic bond, do you still feel the empathic one is a danger to his mental well-being?"

Cardio considered that, then tipped his head to one side, careful not to dislodge the mask that let him breathe in here. "You're right, sir. I hadn't really considered that as the source of his stability rating going up after… the incident," he said, referring to Wolffe's capture and torture at the hands of that vile assassin. "With that in mind… I withdraw my recommendation, though I request that I be allowed to privately apprise his chosen Pack of the potential risks."

"Find the time to do so, Cardio, so they can best support him." Plo nodded, then reached across for Cardio's hands to squeeze them. "Thank you, for listening."

"Of course, _buir_!" Cardio returned the squeeze, then left Plo to his meditations.

+++

Plo remained hyper-aware of Wolffe's mind as the Hatching began. He felt his Commander was far more concerned with making certain the others got their chance, but Sinker and Boost had made him sit between them, and four eggs were settled very near to the Pack. Comet was the most excited of the bunch, yet he also had an eye toward making certain Wolffe gained a new friend.

Pel rolled around the edge of the circle, eager to see the new dragons, having become friendly with the wild ones that watched over the eggs. Xie, nor Plo, would attempt to bond with one, given environmental issues, but that did not keep either from mentally talking to all of them.

As the eggs began to crack, and the men responded to those hunger impulses that drove them back to their own childhood, Plo felt Wolffe doubt his ability to care for such a small being. Plo gently pushed against that with an image of the wild ones fighting the Devouring Rain with them, able and deadly allies. That settled Wolffe some, and he made himself reach when all four eggs in front of the Pack broke as one, offering a hand to the brown that had stepped on his own wing in the tumble out of his shards.

Plo felt the bond glowing within dragon and man, sighing happily as Wolffe crooned and promised to feed him and care for him always. This would be just fine, especially as the other three had netted two blues and a green for their own friends. Comet was curved over his tiny green, feeding her as quickly as he could, while the other two had shifted to their stomachs now to feed and reassure the pair of blues.

Yes, their clan had just expanded, again, and Plo was very relieved to know it was a successful expansion.


	10. Homesteading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Lawquane family leads one settlement effort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set within the first couple of years on the planet

Quarrying was a slow but steady work for Suu Lawquane's group. They had found a site with granite but no true cave system that suited their ideas for living, as there were fields just waiting to be protected and sown and eventually harvested. They had one of the larger shuttles to live out of until all the stone was cut, courtesy of Captain Rex in repayment of the old debt.

Shaeeah was strong enough to help handle the cutting lasers, while Jek ran power-packs back to the solar chargers as they were exhausted. That Suu was the leader of the small group of thirty-odd beings had come as a surprise, but the brothers of her husband all had had enough of the leadership of their own kind and the Jedi. The two other women had deferred to her for her knowledge of farming and living off the land.

They, and Shaeeah, and the three teen girls in their settlement, were treated with absolute respect and granted all the privacy they could want. None of the men wished to hurt them, not even accidentally, and some were quite shy around them. Suu knew, in time, there would be families made, but she also knew that with women so much in the minority on this world, that the power of relationship negotiation would stay in the women's hands for many generations.

After all, there were more than enough men willing to kill any other that abridged the women's safety.

Suu watched the quarrying for a few minutes, then went to check the hydroponic trays. Seeing everything was in hand, she went to find their engineer, to see how far they had come on the field protection system. Suu was skeptical of the energy shields ability to last, but it would be a beginning, to get a fast crop into the ground, and give them time to ready for the cold season. After, during those winter months, they could design and cut the supports for the massive shutter system she preferred.

+++

Cut didn't know why Suu remained solely his wife. The brothers that had joined them were all good men, and the other two ladies of the village they had made were being adroitly courted. Shaeeah had been flirting with one of the younger adult brothers, but Cut was certain it hadn't gone further.

Yet Suu, who turned heads and was held in such high esteem, had made no encouragement toward the half-serious compliments and flirts thrown her way, remaining committed to the monogamous lifestyle she held with Cut.

He knew he was damned lucky, even as he kept his own reviews on the unattached men, in case she should change her mind.

+++

The day they put the last stone in place on the eighth of the houses that ringed the common building, there was jubilation. Men, women, and children were all high on the success of their endeavor. Cut spun Suu around in his exhilaration, with many kisses flying around the village in all manners. 

Their design had been simple, half digging into the soil, lining it with stone, and then building up. One central building was large enough to house hydroponics, fungal farms, medical, and a communal hearth. The eight buildings stretched out at a small distance from it, built the same way but smaller.

Covered trenches connected to a central one that ringed the community building, allowing each outlying member to walk, protected, to the central building and enter it without ever being exposed to the weather or Hungry Rain. Plans to erect frames and extrude glass coverings over some of the lots between the 'spokes' were in place, to create greenhouses for the colder months and the early spring. Fifteen squared klicks were already under shield and growing things, with plans for expansion.

In short, Suu's group had proven that a caveless system could be made. Now they just had to live up to the potential.

+++

Rex set down, glad he'd finally had a chance to visit with one of the solar-assisted ultralights, just outside the edge of the protected fields. A year in, and he had to admit that Suu and Cut had a better spread than some of the outlying communities had managed, though no one on the planet was starving.

He secured the ultralight with straps and pitons into the ground, in case the winds came up, and let Scree land on his shoulder. The blue chirped happily that his wingless friend had made the flight safely, then settled as a shoulder ornament and necklace.

He was greeted by Jek, who had put on a few centimeters since Rex saw him last.

"Uncle Rex!"

After the near tackle of a hug, Rex smiled at the boy. "Your parents out hunting, herding, or other?"

"Mom's staying close to home; her belly is big!" Jek said happily. "But Da is out hunting with Shaeeah and a couple of the boys."

"Lead on, then," Rex told Jek, as Scree exchanged greetings with Jek's green. They jogged back to the buildings, where Jek led Rex into the central one. The village was just far enough from the fault lines to potentially avoid heavy earthquakes… and then Rex realized that the shock-absorbing foam had been used in the mortar, providing a flexibility that would protect them even if one rippled out this far. 

Nor had Jek been exaggerating; Suu who was so thin to begin with looked bigger than the Senator had at the height of her pregnancy.

"I'm not going to break if you hug me," Suu told him with a laugh. "Apparently, the boron in the diet is affecting fertility. A lot of communities are reporting twins."

"I hadn't really realized," Rex said, but he hugged her. He then accepted the caf-substitute, made from the bark of a native tree, and sat with her on one of the couches. "Your village is amazing to see from the air, and lives up to it on the ground."

Suu beamed. "Good to hear it. We are trying hard, and making rules for when we need to start building more. We had a few applicants from the last refugee ship, and Cut thinks, since they are mostly from the Separatist systems, we might be a better match for them than some communities."

"Actually why I came, other than to just visit. Cody saw the applications, and wanted me to check on your opinion."

"We are agreed, and they can help add on," Suu said. "Now, business is done, and you, my friend, shall enjoy your stay with us!"

"Yes ma'am," Rex drawled, smiling, settling in to do just that.


	11. A Name for It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world needs a name...

"Peace."

"Tranquility."

"Future."

"Death Planet?"

There were groans all around the room, and several Jedi — former Jedi — had to smile at the way the name suggestions were going. All the senior officers from every unit had come with the voted upon names, and now the work of narrowing it down to put to vote had begun.

"Shaker."

Back and forth, as the name were read, some being howled down almost immediately.

Death Planet remained strong in contention, amusing everyone. It was macabre, and testimony to their own strength that they were taming a planet with death that rained down on them cyclically.

Eventually, there were five names chosen, and these were sent out to all the communities. A week would pass before Shaak Ti accessed the final tabulation of votes, and then the announcement would be made on a day when no community was facing the Hungry Rain.

+++

In the end, the simple way of naming themselves came through in the name of their new world: Home. This was where they would live, make families, and eventually die, in peace. They were their own people, living in a world all their own.

That, more than anything, made it truly Home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, one and all, for your support.


End file.
